A research sponsored by the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation (NSIF) and the U.K. Stem Cell Foundation (UKSCF) has made a man walk again.
Mr Darek Fidyk, Polish, aged 40 years, became paralysed from the chest downward after being stabbed in the back in 2010; the spinal cord was cut, only a thin strip of scar tissues on the right side was left holding both ends.
Olfactory unsheathing cells were taken from the nose, (these cells help nerve cells to grow), grown in culture and injected into above and below the damaged area of the spinal cord. Four strips of nerve tissue were then placed across the 8mm gap in the spinal cord. The affected ensheathing cells apparently stimulated the nerve fibres in both ends of the cut spinal cord to re-connect with each other using the nerve strips as bridge.
The patient started moving his limps after about 6 months of physiotherapy. He can now walk with a frame and has regained some bowel, bladder and sexual powers.
The operation was done in Poland by both Polish and Britain surgeons.
It is like a miracle.